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**Error Coin Guides on Amazon **
Rule #1: Avoid any coin book that uses "editorials.” Do not buy the book if it features glowing editorial blurbs or reviews on the cover or Amazon page. Thanks to Amazon’s extremely low publishing standards, anyone can self-publish and then invent phony endorsements. Virtually all of the glowing “editorials” found on error-coin and variety guides are completely fabricated. Common signs of fakery: The reviewer has a grandiose title but no real name (or a name that returns zero hits on Google).
They claim affiliation with respected numismatic organizations, yet no such affiliation exists.
They present themselves as the ultimate authority with zero verifiable credentials.
Examples of 100% fake editorial names you will see repeatedly (internet searches always come up empty):
WYKC Books
DBK Book Reviews
Numismatic Researcher and Author
Professional Coin Consultant
Historian and Numismatic Specialist
Certified Coin Appraiser
None of these “reviewers” ever list where they worked, what organization they belong to, or provide any traceable history. They simply do not exist outside the author’s imagination. If you see any of these names praising a book, close the page and walk away—the book is almost certainly low-quality or outright deceptive.0December 12, 2025 10:58AM -
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A growing scam targets beginners through self-published books on platforms like Amazon, purporting to be comprehensive guides to coin collecting, error identification, or valuation. These books often plagiarize photos of coin errors from the internet, lift information from legitimate numismatic sites, and fabricate author biographies—sometimes with AI-generated photos—to appear credible.
My book which was first launched in 2009 is now one of over 400 books on Amazon. I have lost almost all my sales to these fraudulent books.
0November 22, 2025 9:32AM -
I worked with Heritage Auctions to get 10 books removed, but then they decided not to pursue others. The ten books were written by the person discovered using the exact same reviewers. There is a pattern of using farming to collect reviews. Samuel Archer is the top seller in a collectible category and this book received over 467 reviews in three weeks. The book is from internet sources. I am sacrificing my own books to do this.
Quick Chart: Explosion of These Scam Error-Coin Books (2024–2025)
Monthly count of new fraudulent/AI-generated titles added to Amazon:
Month
Number of new scam titles launched
Jan–Jun 2024
12
Jul–Dec 2024
48
Jan 2025
18
Feb 2025
22
Mar 2025
31
Apr 2025
29
May 2025
33
Jun 2025
41
Jul 2025
67 ← peak (summer “error coin season”)
Aug 2025
52
Sep 2025
41
Oct 2025
36
Nov 2025 (so far)
28Total so far: 458+ titles according to a detailed search. I tracked the 228 worst offenders, but the actual wave is roughly double that when including deleted/stealth listing
0November 22, 2025 5:12AM -
Stan2009 earned the Photogenic badge.Little things like uploading a profile picture make the community a better place. Thanks!November 22, 2025 4:57AM